Manchester United’s 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion on Monday evening proved there is still a very long way to go for Louis van Gaal’s side.

They may have some of the most dazzling attacking talent in the world but their defence needs not so much fine-tuning as a considerable transformation. That will come in time, with Luke Shaw still a teenager and Marcos Rojo just five games into his United career.

Questions were also asked of Ander Herrera – who perhaps returned from injury too soon – and Juan Mata – who is yet to fully justify the club’s considerable outlay back in January. But there was one huge positive from the game for United fans, and it came courtesy of the goals from Marouane Fellaini and Daley Blind.

Two more unlikely goal-scorers you are unlikely to find in this United side, but that can only be good news for the fans who would have been disappointed with the contribution of Robin van Persie and late substitute Radamel Falcao.

When those two, Mata, Adnan Januzaj and Angel Di Maria fail to score, you could be forgiven for assuming United have drawn a blank. But their two midfielders proved there are goals throughout this side; goals created by the very presence of their more attack-minded teammates.

The fact that defenders are so busy marking the likes of Falcao and van Persie means other United stars can get in on the goal-scoring action, and that they did so in such style suggests there is more to get excited about with this United side than their expensively-assembled forward-line.

There will be other days when things do not go right for their star strikers, but if the unusual suspects can score a few more, that will not matter quite so much.

Vincent Ralph

After graduating with a degree in English Literature, Vincent completed a NCTJ-accredited qualification in newspaper and magazine journalism in 2005. Shortly after, in a somewhat leftfield move, he began working at a secondary school in Kent. After eight years – the last four of which were spent as Head of Sixth Form – he began to write full-time, combining his love of football with his passion for the written word.Alongside his work for HITC Sport, he also writes film reviews for HITC Lifestyle… along with the odd music interview when fate allows.